The new 11-acre detention basin at the south end of Waco Street in Russellville is nearing completion.

“We anticipate being finished within three months,” Michael Oakes, city engineer, said. “It will be finished this fall.”

The basin is designed to help control storm water flooding in Brookside and surrounding neighborhoods.

In June, the Russellville City Council accepted a bid of $698,505.56 from Bowden Specialties to complete the improvements.

Projections indicate the basin will reduce flows from a statistical 25-year storm by 50 percent.

“When you cut flows in half, the drainage system performs better,” Oakes said.

“It’s the same principle as building a reservoir behind a dam. Flow is easier to manage in small quantities.”

Oakes said the project’s purpose is two-fold. It will help control flooding from storm water and will become a new amenity for the city.

The flat, rectangular area of the basin will be surrounded by levees that contain the water and the low water channel that runs through the bottom of the basin will be surrounded by trees, benches and picnic tables.

“There will plenty of room for pick-up sports,” he said. “By that I mean, open field areas where the community can play football, soccer and other sports.”

He said regulation fields or courts are not being constructed at the site.

Oakes said the basin could provide homeowners with unexpected benefits. Upon completion, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will do an evaluation to see if the regulatory floodplain can be reduced.

“Right now downstream houses are in a floodplain,” he said. “[If FEMA] re-designates floodplains, those homeowners won’t have to buy flood insurance if they don’t want it.”